Frances Foster “Frankie” Smith

By editor

Created 03/28/2013 - 12:08

Frances Foster “Frankie” Smith of North Little Rock Arkansas died on March 17, 2013 from the effects of a stroke suffered days before her death. She had lived for the past five years with Alzheimer’s disease in Foxridge Assisted Living Center in North Little Rock, Ark.
Frankie was born in El Dorado, Ark. on Feb. 7, 1925, to James L. and Beulah Mae Foster. She was predeceased by her two brothers, James “Buddy” Foster and Billy Ray Foster and is survived by her sister, Betty Fay Foster Cathey.
Frankie was the widow of James E. “Jim” Smith. She is survived by her three children, Jim Smith and wife Jane, Sara Langston and husband John and Steve Smith and wife Jan. Frankie delighted in her grandchildren, David and Greg Hanks, Hope Wright, Vann and John Paul Langston, Stephen Smith, Callie Davis, Toland Smith, Kirbie Compston, Zach Smith and McC Smith. She had 12 beautiful great-grandchildren.
Frankie had a great desire for the youth of North Little Rock to have every opportunity to succeed and to enjoy their public school years. She was a Cub Scout den mother, a Brownie and Girl Scout leader and a PTA officer in every school her children attended. She was President of the North Little Rock Youth Center and was everyone’s favorite chaperone at school dances. She was President of the North Little Rock Women’s Club and was instrumental in the creation of the North Little Rock Seawall Mural, which won honors during the Lady Bird Johnson Beautification of America program.
Frankie was a gourmet cook and an exceptional seamstress. She loved to play bridge and to golf. She loved to travel and was a chaperone for the touring International Children’s Choir for several years during the 1980s. She was particularly excited to have had dinner with Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat during the choirs’ Middle Eastern tour. Frankie never met a stranger and never left a room without making a new friend. Whether at a family dinner or a civic meeting, Frankie was in the middle organizing it all.
The family is so grateful to her Nurse Debra Stephens and caregivers at Foxridge, Monique Wilborn, Star Sellinger, Cullianne McClearen and Tameika Washington. Your love for our mother has been so genuine and the care you took of her was without measure. You have been her family over the past several years and we can never thank you enough for everything you have done for her and meant to us.
A memorial service to honor her life will be held in the chapel at Griffin-Leggettt Rest Hills in North Little Rock on March 30 at 11 a.m. Visitation will precede the service at 10 a.m. Brother Ricky Lee will officiate. In lieu of flowers the family requests memorials be made to Arkansas Alzheimer’s Association or to the building fund at First Baptist Church of Sherwood Arkansas.